80 Steps to Jonah
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGerd Oswald
Screenplay byFrederick Louis Fox
Story byFrederick Louis Fox
Gerd Oswald
Produced byGerd Oswald
StarringWayne Newton
Jo Van Fleet
Keenan Wynn
Diana Ewing
Mickey Rooney
Sal Mineo
CinematographyJoseph LaShelle
Edited byAnthony DiMarco
Music byGeorge Shearing
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • December 1969 (1969-12)
Running time
107 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

80 Steps to Jonah is a 1969 American drama film directed by Gerd Oswald, written by Frederick Louis Fox, and starring Wayne Newton, Jo Van Fleet, Keenan Wynn, Diana Ewing, Mickey Rooney and Sal Mineo. It was released by Warner Bros. in December 1969.[1][2]

Plot

Mark Jonah Winters (Wayne Newton) is a migrant worker who hitches a ride with Jerry Taggart (Sal Mineo).[3] A car crash kills Taggert,[4] and when the police arrive on the scene Jonah learns he had been riding in a stolen car. He is accused of car theft and, since he believes he cannot prove his innocence, he flees before he can be arrested.

Jonah spends the night sleeping in a field, and awakes to find four blind children, staying at a nearby blind camp. He meets camp housekeeper Nonna (Jo Van Fleet) and camp director Tracy (Diana Ewing), who believe him to be the handyman they were expecting. Jonah begins working at the camp, and gains the trust of the children, whom he can relate to because he had been orphaned as a child. Nonna sees a photo of Jonah in the newspaper and, though she knows he is wanted by the police, does not turn him in.

Eventually the police arrive at the camp, and arrest Jonah. At the police station a drunkard named Wilfred Bashford (Mickey Rooney), who had spoken to Jonah just before he was given a ride by Taggert, is able to corroborate that Jonah had not been the driver of the stolen car. Jonah is freed, and returns to his friends at the camp.[5]

Cast

See also

References

  1. ↑ "80 Steps to Jonah (1969) - Overview". TCM.com. Retrieved 2015-05-16.
  2. ↑ Hal Erickson (2014). "Eighty-Steps-to-Jonah - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2014-03-05. Retrieved 2015-05-16.
  3. ↑ Lou Cedrone, Wayne Newton In the Movies, The Evening Sun (Baltimore, MD), November 24, 1969, page 30
  4. ↑ Michael Gregg Michaud, Sal Mineo: A Biography, page 264, Three Rivers Press, 2011
  5. ↑ tcm.com
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